Search and Destroy
by SierraSilver
Summary: Franziska von Karma didn’t often let her imagination run away with her. But sometimes…it was easier to think of this as a physical battle rather than a psychological one. A songfic to ‘Ignorance’ by Paramore.


This is a songfic to 'Ignorance' by Paramore. I've never really written a songfic before... Thank you to Fishstix (who I don't think has an account here...) for beta-reading.

Please review!

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters or the song.

* * *

How had it come to this?

Her fingers gripped the gun weakly- she had never held one before, and it seemed to be more suited to coordinated murderers. Not her. She couldn't touch a gun without thinking of her father, and the idea that she might commit the very same crime as he had sickened her. After that trial…that awful trial, she had sworn that no matter how bad things might become, _she _would never take the life of another person. No matter how terribly she might want revenge.

But here she was, hiding in the darkness behind a pillar, fingers shaking as she located the trigger.

_**If I'm a bad person, you don't like me**_

_**Well, I guess I'll make my own way…**_

She almost missed the quiet footsteps from the other side- they were approaching slowly, almost tediously, as if waiting for her to drop her guard. She purposefully dropped her shoe instead, which was just enough movement to provoke whatever trigger-happy maniac wanted to shoot her.

_**It's a circle, a mean cycle**_

_**I can't excite you anymore…**_

The rattle of gunfire echoed in the chamber, and she ran- as well as she could with only one shoe- into another black, empty space. Her heart had been beating so loudly for so long that she didn't even hear it anymore.

_**Where's your gavel? Your jury?**_

_**What's my offense this time?**_

She found the wall by crashing into it, cringing silently at the impact. Whoever had been shooting at her was gone now, but…

She wasn't safe anymore. She would never be safe again.

_**You're not a judge, but if you're gonna judge me**_

_**Well, sentence me to another life…**_

She followed the wall with the back of her hand, shaking with what was most likely adrenaline, or maybe fear. Her footsteps grew to a faster and faster pace until…

The wall dropped off into a corner. She spun around it without thinking. Her first mistake.

Someone was there- a head taller than her and mostly a dark shadow…with a gun. She raised the weapon in a split-second, barely noticing the fact that she had killer-like instincts. She just had to shoot them before they shot her.

_**Don't want to hear your sad song**_

_**I want to feel your pain…**_

"Franziska!" The shadow whisper-shouted.

Her eyes widened, but she didn't drop the focus of her gun.

"Don't shoot me! We're on the same side!"

She gave a quick sigh of relief before glaring reproachfully at him.

"You could have said so sooner, Mr. Phoenix Wright."

"I didn't know it was you!" He shouted, and then realized his voice was too loud.

_**When you swear it's all my fault**_

'_**Cause you know we're not the same…**_

"Quiet!" She whispered, much too late. The blare of gunfire started again, smacking the wall across from them.

"That way! Go!"

She ran in the direction he had pushed her, only stopping when there was nowhere left to run. Phoenix hadn't moved an inch, but was instead firing rapidly at the darkness which hid their opponents.

_**We're not the same**_

_**No, we're not the same…**_

And then it stopped. Miraculously and horribly. She waited for thirty seconds in complete silence and almost complete darkness for the enemy to emerge.

"Hello?"

She jumped six inches off the ground in shock.

"Hello??"

She slapped Phoenix.

"Ow! What was that for!?"

"Stop trying to give me a heart attack!"

"At least I'm not trying to shoot you!"

She grimaced and looked down. "Well…what exactly is the plan, Mr. Phoenix Wright?"

He took a quick look around the corner as if checking for spies. Franziska smirked at the motion- as if the spies would waste their time listening to their stories instead of just shooting them.

"Well…it looks like their main force is...Detective Gumshoe. And…Edgeworth."

She cringed.

_**We're friends that stuck together**_

_**We wrote our names in blood…**_

"Look, just try to follow him around until he leads you back to their hiding place. Then you can attack." He said it so simply, like it was all just some sort of twisted game.

"Miles Edgeworth is not a fool. He will notice if I am following him, and there is no chance at all he will return to their base." It felt strange to know her 'enemy' better than she knew her 'friend'.

"Okay…fine. Just follow him until he notices and try to distract him. I'm going up to the balcony for a better view."

She looked forlornly at the gun she would use to erase anyone who dared to stand in her path.

"Mr. Phoenix Wright…"

"What?"

"When this is over, I am never going to strike a person again."

He laughed. "This isn't a soap opera. You don't have to be so dramatic."

Then he took off into the dark, leaving her alone to search for and destroy prosecutor Miles Edgeworth.

_**I guess you can't accept that the change is good…**_

It felt odd and foolish to run towards the sound of gunfire, and she only did so because it was the only way to find him. And she did. He was alert, against the wall with his gun drawn, waiting to shoot the enemy. She could see the faint glimmer of his eyes in the low lighting, and wondered exactly of what he was thinking.

Probably of shooting her. He had always fought the enemy with some sort of inhuman passion- she would be no exception.

_**You treat me just like another stranger**_

_**Well it's nice to meet you, sir**_

_**I guess I'll go**_

_**I'll best be on my way out…**_

She felt the strong urge to flee the scene before she could make herself noticeable. But it would do no good; she had to fight him…she had to win.

But she had never won against him. He knew her weaknesses far too well- her reliance on others, her tendency to pollute the shining truth with terrible lies. He would always win. There was no question.

Suddenly, his head turned to look in her direction. She cringed, trying to make herself smaller the way she always did in court, but all the same, she was certain he had seen her.

And then he turned the other direction and walked away.

_**Ignorance is your new best friend…**_

Had he seen her? Of course, it would not be like Miles Edgeworth to miss something so obvious. So why had he walked away? She was an easy shot…and he had always been quick to draw his guard.

He should have shot her. He should have opened fire into the shadows until she slumped to the ground. Why did he take mercy on _her_**, **of all people?

She followed him down the hall with silent footsteps, wishing he would turn around and end the battle. She knew that she should have tried to shoot him then, but it was unfair…cowardly, even, to shoot an enemy who was not facing you.

But were they enemies? After everything that had happened…she supposed they were.

He stopped suddenly, and without turning, spoke.

"Franziska von Karma."

_**This is the best thing that could've happened**_

_**Any longer and I wouldn't have made it…**_

"Miles Edgeworth."

He turned slowly to face her, eyes completely devoid of feeling. She raised her gun in anticipation.

"A little slow with that weapon, aren't you…"

"Were you expecting me to shoot anything and everything that appeared in my vision?"

He smiled, and she got the sudden urge to slap him. Not shoot him, just put him in a little bit of pain.

_**It's not a war, no, it's not a rapture**_

_**I'm just a person, but you can't take it…**_

"My opinion of you is higher than that, Franziska."

Her eyes widened a bit, surprised to hear her enemy say anything remotely like that. He should have been shooting her.

"I…I don't believe you."

He sighed, "This isn't the time or place to be having this discussion. You can either shoot me or walk away."

_**The same tricks that once fooled me**_

_**They won't get you anywhere…**_

"Why don't you just shoot me, Miles Edgeworth? It would be simpler than playing mind games." She tried her best to glare at him.

"If I shoot you, you'll shoot me. Where's the sense in that?" He seemed to be trying to distract her, and somehow, it was working all too well.

"If you had been shot, wouldn't you rather have me shot as well?"

He smiled again, "Yes, but I get the feeling that were you given the choice, you would think logically and walk away."

_**I'm not the same kid from your memory**_

_**Well now I can fend for myself…**_

"Are you saying I would not shoot you even if I had the opportunity?" She knew she shouldn't be playing along with his little game, but…

"You had many opportunities, Franziska. You did not take a single one."

She grimaced and looked down. He always managed her anger into confusion. It wasn't a fair fight anymore.

"How do you know that this isn't a trap?" If she could only keep turning his questions back at him…

"I'm almost certain it is. But you might just be in a trap yourself. In which case, neither of us stand a chance."

_**Don't want to hear your sad song**_

_**I want to feel your pain**_

"Edgeworth!"

They both spun to the balcony, just in time to see Phoenix Wright open fire. She decided that this must be her trap, a distraction for the enemy that gave her time to shoot him.

But she couldn't pull the trigger.

_**When you swear it's all my fault**_

'_**Cause you know we're not the same**_

The gunfire missed by half an inch, and the prosecutor shot back without hesitation. Phoenix disappeared, and she couldn't tell if he'd been shot or simply ducked.

But Miles Edgeworth was still alive, still standing there, waiting for her to shoot him. Why couldn't she? Was it because then she would simply be repeating her father- shooting a man who showed no inclination of fighting back?

_**We're not the same**_

_**No, we're not the same…**_

"That was the trap?"

She nodded dryly. She had missed her chance.

"Why didn't you play along?"

"I don't have to answer to you." She replied coldly.

He lowered his gun and stared thoroughly at her, as though looking for the answer in her eyes.

"Is something wrong?"

"No."

_**We used to stick together**_

_**We wrote our names in blood…**_

"You may want to start running now, Franziska." His tone had grown cooler, and she could tell he hadn't believed that nothing was wrong.

"Why should I?"

"You have about five seconds."

"You haven't even drawn your weapon, Miles Edgeworth. How exactly do you plan to shoot me?" Her second mistake: she had become too confident.

"I never said **I **was going to shoot you."

On his last word, a figure sprung from the shadows and opened fire on her.

_**I guess you can't accept that the change is good…**_

Her immediate instinct was to jump into the darkness and run in the opposite direction, and she didn't stop until she was safe behind the same pillar she had started from. She quickly put on her shoe, glad to have some sense of balance back.

"Did I get her, Mr. Edgeworth?"

It was the detective. That scruffy, clueless detective who always seemed to watch out for the prosecutor. She was surprised she hadn't seen such a trap coming.

"I'm not sure."

"Sorry, I didn't know when to start shooting. And she looked pretty angry…"

"That's a bit of an understatement."

Her blood was boiling. Why couldn't she have just shot him when she had the chance?

"Well, I bet she learned her lesson! Never mess with prosecutor Edgeworth!"

"I didn't actually do anything, Detective-"

"I'm gonna go look for Mr. Wright! You go look for Miss von Karma!"

She heard two sets of footsteps. One away from her, the other towards her. It was Miles Edgeworth, coming to find her.

This time she would have no mercy.

_**You treat me just like another stranger**_

_**Well it's nice to meet you, sir**_

_**I guess I'll go**_

_**I'll best be on my way out…**_

"Miles Edgeworth."

She had waited agonizingly for him to walk past her, and then she ambushed him. He didn't stand a chance.

"Franziska…exactly the person I was looking for…"

"Don't think I'm going to hesitate this time."

Her fingers inched toward the trigger, noticeably shaking. All she had to do was press down…

"_**Las-er-run-ner. Game over."**_

She fired.

Nothing happened.

"What!?"

The prosecutor turned to face her, smirking.

She fired again. Still nothing happened.

"Miles Edgeworth, what did you do!?!"

"The game is over, Franziska. They don't work anymore."

It was all over. She had missed her chance for real this time, and she wasn't going to get another shot. Literally or metaphorically.

"Don't think I'll forget this."

He returned the angry look in her eyes with a grin. "I'm sure you won't."

"Mr. Edgeworth! Miss von Karma!" The detective bumbled over to them, followed closely by Phoenix Wright. "Wasn't that a great game??"

"I suppose." She said simply.

She hadn't felt so terrible in a long time. This game dredged up too many memories.

"Okay, next time you and Edgeworth are on the same team." Phoenix lectured her. "The point of the game is not to stand around talking; it's to shoot each other."

"What makes you think I wouldn't shoot him if we were on the same team?"

"Well…you didn't shoot him when you were on different teams, so-"

She silenced him with a glare.

"Don't worry," the prosecutor smirked, "I'm sure you'll do better next time you decide to fight me."

It would be pointless to explain to him that they were **always **fighting each other.

"I certainly will, Miles Edgeworth." She said, faking a smile.


End file.
